The statistics are familiar: almost 50% of new teachers leave the profession within their first five years in the classroom. The challenge of recruiting and retaining teachers carries high costs for today’s schools and students. This book uncovers some of the reasons behind the elevated attrition rates in the field of education through a long-term study of beginning teachers in one urban school district. Drawing upon research conducted over a seven-year period, this book sheds light upon the role that teachers’ intentions play in shaping their later career paths. It also shares the deeply personal and professional journeys of teachers who stayed, teachers who shifted into education-related positions, and teachers who left the field altogether. Through eight in-depth case studies, this book clarifies the factors influencing teachers’ career paths and depicts the toll that teacher attrition takes on the teachers themselves. Finally, it makes an argument for placing teachers’ voices clearly at their center of their own career development as a way to enhance autonomy, satisfaction, and ultimately career longevity.

This book brings together the most current thinking and research on educator stress and how education systems can support quality teachers and quality education. It adopts an occupational health perspective to examine the problem of educator stress and presents theory-driven intervention strategies to reduce stress load and support educator resilience and healthy school organizations. The book provides an international perspective on key challenges facing educators such as teacher stress, teacher retention, training effective teachers, teacher accountability, cyber-bullying in schools, and developing healthy school systems. Divided into four parts, the book starts out by introducing and defining the problem of educator stress internationally and examining educator stress in the context of school, education system, and education policy factors. Part I includes chapters on educator mental health and well-being, stress-related biological vulnerabilities, the relation of stress to teaching self-efficacy, turnover in charter schools, and the role of culture in educator stress. Part II reviews the main conceptual models that explain educator stress while applying an occupational health framework to education contexts which stresses the role of organizational factors, including work organization and work practices. It ends with a proposal of a dynamic integrative theory of educator stress, which highlights the changing nature of educator stress with time and context. Part III starts with the definition of what constitute healthy school organizations as a backdrop to the following chapters which review the application of occupational health psychology theories and intervention approaches to reducing educator stress, promoting teacher resources and developing healthy school systems. Chapters include interventions at the individual, individual-organizational interface and organizational levels. Part III ends with a chapter addressing cyber-bullying, a new challenge affecting schools and teachers. Part IV discusses the implications for research, practice and policy in education, including teacher training and development. In addition, it presents a review of methodological issues facing researchers on educator stress and identifies future trends for research on this topic, including the use of ecological momentary assessment in educator stress research. The editors’ concluding comments reflect upon the application of an occupational health perspective to advance research, practice and policy directed at reducing stress in educators, and promoting teacher and school well-being.

The Blue Moon Bassoon Songbook is a collection of diverse folk and classical melodies arranged for bassoon. With a wide variety of styles and familiar pieces, this book will take the beginning bassoonist from their first notes to their first orchestral excerpts. Arranged and designed by a professional bassoonist, each chapter builds essential techniques with tips and tricks throughout.

Opportunities and Challenges in Teacher Recruitment and Retention serves as a comprehensive resource for understanding teachers’ careers across the professional lifespan. Grounded in the notion that teachers’ voices are essential for understanding teachers’ lives, this edited volume contains chapters that privilege the voices of teachers above all. Book sections look closely at the particular issues that arise when recruiting an effective, committed, and diverse workforce, as well as the challenges that arise once teachers are immersed in the classroom setting. Promising directions are also included for particularly high-need areas such as early childhood teachers, Black male teachers, STEM teachers, and urban teachers. The book concludes with a call for self-care in teachers’ lives. Chapter contributions come from a variety of contexts across the United States and around the world. However, regardless of context or methodology, these chapters point to the importance of valuing and respecting teachers’ lives and work. Moreover, they demonstrate that teacher recruitment and retention is a complex and multifaceted issue that cannot be addressed through simplistic policy changes. Rather, attending to and appreciating the web of influences on teachers lives and careers is the only way to support their work and the impact they have on our next generation of students.

This booklet presents articles that deal with identifying signs of stress and methods of reducing work-related stressors. An introductory article gives a summary of the causes, consequences, and cures of teacher stress and burnout. In articles on recognizing signs of stress, "Type A" and "Type B" personalities are examined, with implications for stressful behavior related to each type, and a case history of a teacher who was beaten by a student is given. Methods of overcoming job-related stress are suggested in eight articles: (1) "How Some Teachers Avoid Burnout"; (2) "The Nibble Method of Overcoming Stress"; (3) "Twenty Ways I Save Time"; (4) "How To Bring Forth The Relaxation Response"; (5) "How To Draw Vitality From Stress"; (6) "Six Steps to a Positive Addiction"; (7)"Positive Denial: The Case For Not Facing Reality"; and (8) "Conquering Common Stressors". A workshop guide is offered for reducing and preventing teacher burnout by establishing support groups, reducing stressors, changing perceptions of stressors, and improving coping abilities. Workshop roles of initiator, facilitator, and members are discussed. An annotated bibliography of twelve books about stress is included. (FG)

An illuminating guide to a career as a teacher written by acclaimed journalist Melinda D. Anderson and based on the real-life experiences of a master teacher—essential reading for anyone considering a path to this profession that changes lives. Go behind the scenes and be mentored by the best in the business to find out what it’s really like, and what it really takes, to become a teacher. Educators are the bedrock of a healthy society, and the exceptional ones have a lasting impact. The best teachers surpass mere instruction to cultivate and empower students beyond school. In LaQuisha Hall’s classroom, students are “scholars,” young ladies are “queens,” and young men are “kings.” The Baltimore high school English teacher’s pioneering approach to literacy has earned her teacher of the year accolades, and has established her as a visionary mentor to the young black men and women of Baltimore. Acclaimed education writer Melinda D. Anderson shadows Mrs. Hall to reveal how this rewarding profession changes lives. Learn about Hall’s path to prominence, from the challenging realities of her rookie year to her place of excellence in the classroom. Learn from Hall’s inspiring approach and confront the critical issues of race, identity, and equity in education. Here is how the job is performed at the highest level.

Learn why today’s best teachers are leaving—from the teachers themselves. Low pay, increased responsibilities, and high-stakes standardized testing—these are just some of the reasons why more talented teachers are leaving the profession than ever before. Drawing on in-depth interviews with teachers all over the country, Katy Farber presents an in-the-trenches view of the classroom exodus and uncovers ways that schools can turn the tide. Farber's findings, which have been featured on Education Talk Radio, Vermont Public Radio, and in the Huffington Post, paint a sometimes shocking picture of life in today's schools, taking a frank look at • Challenges to teacher endurance, including tight budgets, difficult parents, standardized testing, unsafe schools, inadequate pay, and lack of respect • Strategies veteran teachers use to make sure the joys of teaching outweigh the frustrations • Success stories from individual schools and districts that have found solutions to these challenges • Recommendations for creating a school environment that fosters teacher retention Featuring clear analysis and concrete suggestions for administrators and policy makers, Why Great Teachers Quit takes you to the front lines of the fight to keep great teachers where they belong: in the classroom.